THE ORPHANS in Keighley Amateurs’ latest musical are “absolutely fabulous”.

That’s the view of Amateurs chairman Louise Hindle as she describes the girls’ performances in the musical Annie.

The 15 children, aged from seven to 14, are guaranteed to melt the hearts of audiences at Victoria Hall next week.

The youngsters live in a New York orphanage and regularly run rings round nasty manager Miss Hannigan.

Louise said: “They are bonding really well as a family, which comes over in their performances. They’re all able to sing, dance and act.”

The orphans are led by Annie herself, played by 11-year-old Keighley girl Saffron Ingham, and the youngest is Rosie Johnson, who spends some of her time on stage in a bucket.

Louise said. “We had around 55 girls auditioning for the orphans, so we have some very talented children. It was very difficult to choose them.”

Most of the successful children come from the Keighley area, with a couple from Halifax.

Annie is performed from Tuesday to Saturday at 7.15pm, with a Saturday matinee at 2.15pm.

Visit Keighleyamateurs.com for tickets, call 08456 252550, or pop into the Copy Shop in High Street, Keighley.